bradywwefandomcom-20200214-history
Terry Funk
Later in Funk's career, his style changed from wrestling traditional southern style wrestling matches to the more violent style of hardcore wrestling. In 1994, after a special appearance against Tully Blanchard at World Championship Wrestling (WCW) Slamboree, Funk promised to help the fledgling Eastern Championship Wrestling (later renamed Extreme Championship Wrestling or ECW) by lending his talent and notoriety to the promotion, which had just split from the NWA. On July 14, Terry and Dory Funk lost a barbed wire match against The Public Enemy. Funk maintained a regular schedule of wrestling for ECW in its early days while also competing in Japan. He had many feuds and wrestled programs with wrestlers such as Cactus Jack, "The Franchise" Shane Douglas, The Sandman, Sabu, and Terry's own protege, Tommy Dreamer. On August 20, 1995, IWA Japan held a King of the Death Match tournament in Kawasaki, Japan. In this tournament, Funk endured three extreme-style matches involving ladders, thumbtacks, and barbed wire. In the final match of the tournament, he lost to Mick Foley (as Cactus Jack), in an exploding ring, C4 explosive, barbed wire match. Funk further elevated ECW by headlining their first pay-per-view, Barely Legal on April 13, 1997, winning the ECW Championship from Raven. Earlier in the night, he defeated The Sandman and Stevie Richards in a Triple Threat match, thus earning him the match with Raven. He was later defeated for the title by Sabu in a barbed wire match at Born to Be Wired, in which the ropes of the ring were taken down and replaced with barbed wire. Both men had to be cut out of the wires at the end of the match. Sabu had his biceps visibly torn open by the barbed wire - as a result, the wound was taped up and the match continued. In September of that same year, a show was held in Funk's hometown of Amarillo. It was called "WrestleFest - 50 Years of Funk" and was both his own show and a celebration of the careers of Terry, his father, and his brother. Terry lost to then WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart in the main event. However, before the match, ECW owner Paul Heyman presented Terry with a belt, paid for through a collection taken up by wrestlers on the ECW roster, that declared him the Lifetime ECW World Heavyweight Champion. Funk's retirement lasted just three months before he started taking independent bookings again. Soon after, he was signed by the WWF and debuted as Chainsaw Charlie. Funk had a match with Foley on Raw, and the New Age Outlaws came and threw both in a dumpster, and pushed them off of the stage. This led to a match between The Outlaws and Funk/Foley at WrestleMania XIV, for the title in a Dumpster match when Funk/Foley beat the New Age Outlaws. The title was held up and put on the line in a Steel Cage match the next night on Raw due to a technicality: the wrong dumpsters had been used in the match. The Outlaws regained the title. He then had a Falls Count Anywhere match with Foley on Raw in 1998, where Foley defeated him. He left the WWF in the summer as Foley resumed his solo career as Mankind in a feud with The Undertaker. Upon leaving the WWF, Funk officially retired again, but only for a short time. His last match in the WWF at that time was in a tag team match at Fully Loaded, where he teamed up with Bradshaw to go against Scorpio and Faarooq. At ECW November to Remember, Funk was believed to have been a mystery partner against Justin Credible and Jack Victory. However, the mystery partner turned out to be Jake Roberts. An enraged Funk attacked Dreamer at every opportunity in late 1998 and early 1999. Funk, however, came down ill before they could have a match, and Funk "retired" yet again in mid 1999.Funk wrestled for World Championship Wrestling in 2000, winning the WCW Hardcore Championship three times (which stands as the company's record) and the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship for the second time (the first time was under the NWA banner). He was also the WCW Commissioner at one time and the leader of the short-lived Old Age Outlaws that feuded with the nWo.Funk was set to wrestle at the ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view on June 11, 2006. As part of the buildup to the event, Funk appeared on the May 15 episode of Raw, where he confronted Mick Foley over the attack of Tommy Dreamer the previous week. At One Night Stand, Funk, Tommy Dreamer, and Beulah were defeated by the team of Foley, Edge and Lita.7 Midway through the match, Foley injured Funk's eye with barbed wire, and Funk was taken backstage. He later returned to the match (with a bloody cloth tied over his eye) to hit Foley with a flaming 2x4 wrapped in barbed wire.7